1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information setting apparatus for setting photographic information of a camera or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In cameras or electronic still cameras, there are various control information, such as shutter speed, diaphragm stop values, exposure mode, and the like, the settings of which can be changed by the photographer. In recent years, the setting of the various types of control information in cameras has been changed by electrically detecting the rotational amount and the direction of rotation of an operation dial. However, to faciliate the operational of the dial, the operational force of the dial is set to be relatively small. Therefore, if the photographer inadvertently touches the operation dial, he may change the setting of the control information without intending to do so. The effects may be extreme if, contrary to the intentions of the photographer, the shutter speed or the diaphragm values are changed. The effects may prevent a high quality picture from being taken or prevent a picture from being taken at all while the setting is changing to the adequate value. Therefore, a camera has been presented in which, a switch is provided to select a valid mode or an invalid mode for the information setting operation using the operation dial and when an invalid mode is selected, the setting change cannot be made by the operation dial (As disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication Heisei 2-210424.).
With the camera described above, in some cases, setting changes relating to a plurality of control information can be accomplished by means of a single operation dial. For example, the setting is changed in response to the single operation of the operation dial for control information that must often be changed. Such control information include shutter speed and diaphragm value. For control information that do not need to be changed often, the setting is changed in response to the related operation for example simultaneous operation of the operational component and the operation dial. Information that do not require frequent resetting include such information as the exposure mode and the photometric range. In the latter case, if all of the setting changes of various control information by the operation dial are uniformly prohibited in response to the selection of an invalid mode for prohibiting the setting change only, one specific control information (such as shutter speed) can not be changed and and all other control information are also prohibited from being changed, the result is a decline in operational deterioration. In the system described above, first types of control information are switched when the operation dial is operated independently, and second types of control information are switched when the operation dial is operated in connection with other operational components. As a result, only one type of the control data is changed, even if the operations dial is touched inadvertently, and the other type of control data will not be changed.